VETO IN COMMTTIEE.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 736, 8 April 1910, Page 7

VETO IN COMMTTIEE.

TARIFF MOTION. DEFEATED BY A FREE - TRADE ' AMENDMENT- • NATIONALISTS DO NOT VOTE. Hy Teleiraph-Presa ASBociation-OoDyrlfftal (Rec. April 8, 0.15 a.m.) London, April 7. In the House of Commons, in Committee of tho Lords' veto resolutions, Mr. Haldano, Secretary for War, moved the first resolution (dopriving tho House of Lords of powor to amend or reject a monoy Bill). ■ . Mr. Haldano, agreed that it was unfortunate to havo to introduce written provisions into an unwritten Constitution, but when a breach of such magnitude was mado without tho Lords' assurance that it i would not be repeated, members of tho Houso of Commons would bo unworthy of their traditions if they failed to deal with tho situation. If the Liberals failed to establish a real revising Second Chamber, the Conservatives, under the guise, of reform, would strengthen the hereditary principle. . .-.,.'••

: Mr. Austen Chamberlain, for the Opposition, replied that the Liberals' reform of the House of Lords was a sham and was only referred to in order to give Sir Edward Grey and Mr. Haldane a shadow of an excuse for retaining office. Mr. Hamilton Benn, Unionist member for Greenwich, gave notice of the following motion:— That fiscal reform is necesi sary owing to foreign tariffs hindering British trade and aggravating unemployment.' Mr.- S. Storey, Unionist member for Sunderland, seconded. He declared that all petty constitutional squabbles were worthless compared with the failing of British manufactures and the miseries of! chronic unemployment. He predicted that a change would come through the combination of tariff reformers and British trade unions. Sir, G. Kemp, Liberal membor for North-west Manchester, moved, and Mr., J. A. Simon, Liboral member for Walthamstow, seconded a Free-trade amendment. _ The amendment was carried on a division, the voting boing as under:— For Free-trade Amendment 235 Against Amendment : 202 Government majority 33 The Irish Nationalists abstained from voting. . BUDGET BARGAIN WITH IRISH. VARIOUS VERSIONS.

•■,'.. London, April 6. Several newspapers report that Mr. Asquith has arranged with Mr. Redmond (Leader;of,the Nationalist party) to allow the passage of the Budget. Tho papers give various versions of the, conditions arranged.

LIBERAL ANTI-VETO LEAGUE. London, April 6. The Liberals .are starting an AntiVeto League. It will bo a lineal 'descendant of the Budget League, which recently, died.

A LONDON IVJEpCHANT'S VIEWS. The following J extraot from .the letter of a London merchant to a Wellington firm is of interest as indicating, tho view taken of the political situation in business' circles:— ' To tho man with a .detached mind, an adequate purse, and a cynical disposition, the time wo are. passing through is full of interest. Asquith bought the Irish ■ rote by a pledge of Homo Rule; the vote having served its turh,..and the elections being over, ho asserts he gave no such pledge. The words to a plain man certainly conveyed that impression, "but Brutus is an honourable man"; at least, ho says he is, and that he meant something different so I suppose we must believe him. He tried the Gladstone trick of wrapping, up in verbiage something which could, in case of need, have different meanings attached to it. Gladstone was an artist and succeeded; he was not an artist, and failed, and is in a mess. : The Irish want tho Budget until they get Homo Rule. Keir Hardie clamours for Lansdowne's head on a charger; some Homo Rulers want the blood of other Home Rulers.' The Ministerialists want the ■ loaves and fishes and are like to lose' thejn, and the rank and file are sullen because they will bo forced to again defend their seats with the attendant heavy cost, and the ordinary citizen goes, as becomes him, to his parish church on Sundays and prays 'for the "High Court of Parliament" that things may be so ordered and governed "that peace and happiness, truth and justice, religion and piety may bo established amongst us for all generations," but what he thinks is "a plague on both'your Houses. In Heaven's name, cease'your chatter; wo have laws enough, enforce them and let the rest bide, and give ■us peace to go about our business with .some assurance that, undisturbed, wo can advanco tho country's interest by trade, industry, and agriculture;"' but what a vain hope! . .